Creating Hyper-V VM with Ubuntu Server

I’ve recently decided to learn a bit about Ubuntu and going to do some project based on this platform, hence this little post describing how to create Ubuntu Server Hyper-V VM.

First of all, you need to download latest Ubuntu Server installation media from here, selecting between LTS (Long Term Support) and regular version:

LTS version is more tested and enterprise focused version which is released every 2 years and has 5 years support cycle.

Once you have installation media you just need to create Hyper-V VM allocating desired quantity of resources to it (note that this OS has quite humble minimum requirements) and make your VM Generation choice.

Despite the fact that process of creating VM is more or less the same for any OS I decided to write down all the steps involved into setting up Ubuntu Server VM.

You can follow these steps to create your own Hyper-V VM with Ubuntu Server OS. Right click on your Hyper-V host and select New > Virtual Machine:

Just click Next on Before You Begin page:

Specify name and location for your VM (be sure to specify your preferred VMs folder, VM specific subfolder will be created automatically based on VM name you type in):

Select Generation of your VM (note this cannot be changed once VM is created):

I wanted Generation 2 VM so I’ve selected this option (refer to MSFT documentation for information on choosing VM generation). Note that for Ubuntu VM you need to disable secure boot feature which will be enabled by default on Generation 2 VM.

Assign desired amount of memory and decide whether Dynamic Memory should be used:

Select virtual switch:

Adjust VHD settings if necessary:

Specify path to Ubunto ISO file you downloaded earlier:

Review selection you made and click on Finish:

Disable Secure Boot before powering on your VM – otherwise your VM fail to boot (as per MSFT documentation: “some Linux virtual machines will not boot unless the secure boot option is disabled”):

And while you are still in VM properties I would recommend you to disable automatic checkpoints (unless you want to use them):

Once you start VM setup process will be initiated automatically:

You will need to select preferred language:

Then keyboard settings:

And next, select Install Ubuntu option:

Accept default network connections settings:

And leave your proxy settings empty (unless you are using proxy server):

Accept default archive mirror address and hit Done:

Accept defaults on filesystem setup (which will mean use entire disk for our installation):

Select disc or accept selection if you have just one:

Accept default filesystem settings on the next page:

Agree with formatting selected drive (data loss warning):

Specify profile settings and server name (note that only small letters accepted for server and user names – great example of explicitness which leaves no chance for you to grown up into proficient user thinking that some case insensitive objects are case sensitive – happens way too often in more thanks to some user friendly OSs):

Select whether you want to install OpenSSH server:

Select any additional packages you may want to install:

Wait till installation go through remaining steps:

Hit Reboot Now once installation completes:

Once VM reboot completes you will be prompted to remove installation medium and hit ENTER (Hyper-V should auto remove it for you):

Once reboot completes Ubuntu Server should start and meet you with credentials prompt:

Once you type in your login and password correctly you will be invited to enter commands (no GUI installed on Server version by default):

At this point I suggest you to shutdown VM with shutdown -P now command and make your baseline VM snapshot.

Last do couple of more things before we wrap off our VM setup process. Let’s first install updates using sudo apt-get update (to fetch the list of available updates) and sudo apt-get upgrade (to upgrade installed packages):

And last but not least, let’s add GUI to our server – for that just use sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop confirming that you want to continue on additional space usage requirement consent step. Once setup completes you need to reboot your VM and it will start in GUI mode:

After clicking on your user icon, type in your password and click Sign In:

You will be presented with What’s new in Ubuntu splash screen:

This concludes VM installation and configuration process. Stay tuned for the new posts as I’m going to keep using this VM and documenting installation and configuration of additional packages and other things.